WHY LOVE?
Let me start by sharing something that happened Sunday.
I was in Transitions Bookplace at Unity,
reading a book on the possible connection
between ayhuasca and DNA.
The author had spent time with shamen in South America.
I got to a chapter where 2 shamen and a few other men
had a shared an ayhuasca experience.
One shaman was a bit jealous of the one being studied.
The 2 shamen began fighting,
throwing psychic darts and abusing each-other.
One shaman ran away, but the whole village was upset
for months by the ongoing fight between their shamen.
It was easy to see the shamen's jealousy,
their competitiveness, their egos,
their yearning for more knowledge, and more power.
Nowhere was there a visible commitment to Love.
What is the point of more knowledge, more power?
What world is created by jealousy and competitiveness?
THIS is what some supposedly wise men share with us?
I nearly wept with shame.
===
A friend asked me, challenged me actually,
to answer this paraphrased question :
"The test of a philosophical system's universality
is its ability to accommodate concepts
from outside its usual sphere of discourse.
How do you, Preston, address such topics as aging,
technology, justice, good and evil, and death?"
The 1st thing that got to me was the notion
that I present a philosophical system via my Synvocations.
Do I have, or promote, a philosophical system?
That question struck me as odd since I don't think
I have a dogma, or a settled or established set of tenets.
Nothing of the sort.
In fact, I think I rebel against dogma.
I think of myself as pretty free of such limitations,
though perhaps that's my own self-delusion.
I'm sure his question is worth examining.
btw : I want to add this important note :
Emily, my wife, read this Synvocation and approved it
as representing both of Us.
===
Simply put, I stand for Love.
Love is most often what I speak about in my Synvocations.
Is (capital L) Love a philosophical system?
Likely not.
I stand for Love, like millions before me, and millions after.
And in it's vagueness, the notion "I stand for Love"
hardly seems like a philosophical system.
In fact, standing for Love probably seems trite, useless,
impotent, and hollow.
Love - it's a nearly meaningless and overworked, cliche term.
"How do I love thee - let me count the ways."
"She loves me, she loves me not."
"Make love not war."
"Love thy neighbor."
"What's love got to do with it?"
"Love makes the world go 'round."
"Love is the answer."
"All you need is love."
===
Nobody believes in (capital L) Love anymore, do they?
Isn't Love incredibly "naive" at best?
I mean, I suppose there's an exception for romantic love.
And love between parent and child, and between siblings.
But Love as in "Love thy neighbor."
Or "Love is the answer."
Or "All you need is love."
That's so old school, nobody buys into that cliche, do they?
Well, I confess, I do.
I DO buy into that.
I AM a stand for Love.
Really, that's what I've dedicated my being to, my life to.
That does not mean I always embody Love,
but I STAND for love.
Love is the commitment of my life.
Creative Love in particular.
===
A few years ago, I publicly dedicated my life
to being Creative Love.
And from that time forward, living as such.
I still live from that committment.
My words and my will declare it so,
and it is who I constitute myself as.
Simply put : If I am in integrity, I AM Creative Love.
If I am not Creative Love, I am not in integrity.
And I do my best to always be in integrity in life.
Further, I love being RESPONSIBLE for creating Love.
I love being ACCOUNTABLE for creating Love.
By that I mean :
My wife and I create communities of Love...
Love on demand.
Really.
At least 3 times a month.
We co-create communities of permission-granting,
loving self-expression.
And within those informal communities of Love,
some attendees - including us -
get a taste of heaven on earth.
===
Heaven on earth : another cliche concept.
Until you touch it, live it, breath it into your heart.
And especially... share it.
Heaven on earth is not a hollow concept - once you taste it,
once it touches your lips, enters your heart, your soul.
Heaven on earth is not a hollow concept once you share it.
Heaven on earth becomes REAL only when one gets real to IT.
When one gives up one's cynicism.
When gives one's self over to it, experiences it.
Then heaven on earth becomes a REAL Possibility.
There's nothing trite or vague about Love, either,
once you embody Love as a way of being.
As in "I'm a human.
I'm a human being... being what exactly?
I'm a human being... Love."
In fact, you can never forget those moments
of heaven on earth once you've tasted them,
once you've allowed them to touch your heart
with their Grace.
However those moments of heaven on earth come to you,
you never forget them.
And, if you are wise, and hunger to be full of Love,
you will do what you can to create them anew,
and to create more opportunities for heaven on earth.
Not just for yourself, but for others.
===
Heaven on earth is just another name for Love.
Love is a bit vague.
Heaven on earth is more concrete.
Heaven on earth is the activity of Love.
Heaven on earth is Love in action.
Heaven on earth is what Love looks like.
Love IS the answer.
And Love must be exchanged.
Love must be shared to be Love, or it is just potential Love.
Heaven on earth IS the answer to the question
"What do we DO with Love?"
Heaven, too, must be shared to be heaven.
That's my dogma, I guess.
Cuz I LOVE the consequences... of Love.
And what Love adds to this world.
And, importantly, what Love subtracts from this world.
===
===
So here's how it works :
If I say "I stand for Love", and if I am in integrity,
then I create Love.
Why? Cuz I SAY so, cuz I MAKE it so.
Cuz that is who I am.
I know of no other way to create Love
than to commit to doing so, being so.
In committing,
I create room for the exchange of Love energy.
I create room for forgiveness, and healing,
which are two fundamentally important types of Love.
Most of our relationships do not need
forgiveness and healing.
But get this :
The few relationships that DO need forgiveness and healing
are the ones that cause us ALL our pain.
The relationships that DO need forgiveness and healing
are the ones that put our PERSONAL worlds at risk,
even our personal LIVES at risk on occasion.
On a larger, global scale,
the relationships that DO need forgiveness and healing
are the ones that put our EARTHLY world at risk.
The relationships that DO need forgiveness and healing
are the ones that really DO NEED forgiveness and healing,
Unfortunately, they are the same ones within which we
are least likely to CREATE forgiveness and healing.
===
===
There's a reason I am a stand for Love.
I believe that politics, though perhaps necessary,
will not save us.
I believe that religion, though perhaps necessary,
will not save us.
Let me put it clearly :
Only Love, and Love's children forgiveness and healing,
will save this world.
Nothing but forgiveness and healing (in that order),
will serve us with our own selves.
Without forgiveness and healing with-in, and Love,
we, our wounded selves, are doomed to darkness, not Light.
Nothing but Love,
and Love's children forgiveness and healing,
will serve us with our families.
Without forgiveness and healing, and Love,
our sometimes dysfunctional families are doomed.
Nothing but Love,
and Love's children forgiveness and healing,
will serve us with our friends.
Without forgiveness and healing, and Love,
our sometimes delicate friendships are doomed.
Nothing but Love,
and Love's children forgiveness and healing,
will serve us with our beloved nation.
Without forgiveness and healing, and Love,
our divided nation is doomed.
Nothing but forgiveness and healing (in that order)...
Nothing but forgiveness and healing will serve the Middle-East.
Without forgiveness and healing, and Love,
the hate-and-history-filled Middle-East is doomed.
Nothing else - NOTHING else - will do.
Making someone wrong so we can be right
does not serve us, or them.
Being justified in our religion does not serve us, or them.
Rape and murder do not serve us, or them.
War and genocide and ethnic cleansing do not serve us,
or them.
Land-grabs do not serve us, or them.
Holy-landism does not serve us, or them.
In fact, ultimately, "us vs them" does not serve us, or them.
===
===
The way I see it, nothing but Love,
and Love's sisters forgiveness and healing,
nothing else will do.
It is in HISTORY and JUSTICE and DOGMA
that the seeds of the divisions between humans
are planted and nurtured.
Here's a look at history and justice and dogma
from the point of view of politics, or personal-story:
History as in "I will never forgive what you did to me.
As long as I live I will harbor enmity toward you.
There will be no peace in this family, for I remember.
How could I forgive?
How could I forget?
You did that to me and you can not take it back,
nor will I forgive you even if you ask.
Your petition will not touch my heart.
I will endlessly hold this against you."
Justice....
Justice as in "I will stay on your case.
I will get my revenge, I will get my justice.
You will feel my wrath.
I will not let you get away with this.
If I let you get away with this this time,
what will you do next?
I demand justice.
I demand that the wrong you did be set right,
be set right in MY eyes."
Dogma as in "This is the way we do it.
We act from rules, and rules are what govern us.
We may not act from love, or compassion.
But the rules of our "-ism" are sacred.
Our dogma says this, and because we honor our "-ism",
we act like this to you.
You, you who do not follow our rules,
who do not follow our dogma...
You are not with us, therefore you are against us.
We have no guilt... in what we are now about to do to you...
in the name... of our dogma."
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===
Let's look at one of the thorniest situations on planet earth.
In the Middle East, half a world away,
we hear the cries, the endless cries...
"My sister was raped... by your people."
"My brother's family was killed... by your people."
"Our mosque was defiled... by your people."
"My business was destroyed... by your people."
"My city was bombed... by your people."
"Our land was taken... by your people."
"My neighbor was... by your people."
"My son was... by your people."
"My mother was... by your people."
"My WIFE was... by your people."
"I was... by your people."
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It is in HISTORY and JUSTICE and DOGMA
that the seeds of the divisions between humans
are planted and nurtured.
Here's a look at history and justice and dogma
from the point of view of religion :
History, as in "This land is our land,
God gave it to us.
We are His chosen people.
You are not - you are an infidel, a sinner,
and a thief for taking it from us.
God gave this land to us, not to you,
and you have no right to exist here."
Justice as in "Your people did this to my people.
We will avenge this wrong you have inflicted on my people.
We curse you and we will smite you
with our bloody golden sword.
Us, and our children, and our children's children...
we will never forgive nor forget.
Justice will be done, by us, upon you and your people,
until there is no more "you" for us to meter justice to."
Dogma as in "God is on our side.
We alone wear the mantel of Truth.
You are both deceivers, and deceived.
Bow down to our true God, the true God,
for His words have been delivered to us by the Prophet.
Accept our way as THE way, and all will be well."
(continued next column)
(continued)
Here's how that works :
I make you... to be a THEM.
THEM equals "other-than-me-and-my-people".
And I make THEM, which is you... to be my enemy.
As long as you are THEM, MY enemy,
there will be war and the possibility of war.
As long as YOU make me to be YOUR enemy,
there will be war and the possibility of war.
As long as we live from the negative history between us
- and there WILL be negative history -
then there will be war and the possibility of war.
As long as we believe all past negative acts between us
must come to justice,
there WILL be war and the possibility of war.
For there is NO WAY every negative act can see justice.
That's a chimera, an IMPOSSIBLE goal.
Literally... impossible.
In us-vs-them-land, MY justice is not YOUR justice.
Never.
There will NEVER be justice in both our eyes.
How often do you think people go to court to get justice
and BOTH sides walk out saying "Justice was served!"
One party's justice is absolutely NOT
the other party's justice.
There will NEVER be justice in both party's eyes.
Never.
Therefore, the enmity continues.
Continues...
Continues... until there is forgiveness and healing.
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Now, do not mistake what I am saying :
I am not a stand for IN-justice.
As much as possible, justice needs to be served,
and in-justice stopped, and made right if possible.
But in the greater picture,
only forgiveness and healing can get to the ROOT CAUSE.
Only forgiveness and healing can cure.
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Btw : I AM a stand for self-defense.
Gandhi had it right when he held non-violent protests.
But he was only right in certain circumstances.
Gandhi was right ONLY because...
he did not have an ENEMY.
He had an ADVERSARY, not an enemy.
And non-violence works against an adversary.
An enemy will kill you.
An ENEMY often sees you as less than human,
certainly less than a full and whole child of God,
deserving their Love.
An adversary is civilized, as the British were.
An adversary has a conscience, like the British.
An adversary has respect, and - importantly - empathy.
The British were not Gandhi's ENEMY,
they were Gandhi's adversary.
The British were shamed, shamed!
And they left without rape or pillage or war.
They left India with their tail between their legs, shamed.
Now the Nazis, or today's few militant fascist extremists,
now THERE'S an enemy.
They will - and do - kill in the name of dogma,
and they will not be shamed by non-violent protests.
This is the kind of enemy who creates you
as less than human,
certainly less than a full and whole child of God,
deserving of their Love.
For instance :
There was no stopping the Nazis with non-violence.
The reason you don't hear from the Jews
who walked up and gave the Nazis hugs,
saying "I love you"...
is because any such Jews did not live to tell you about it.
Christian dogma, or Muslim dogma,
or Nazi dogma, or any other dogma...
MAY be a justification for killing other living beings,
to it's adherants.
Love is not.
Dogma creates enemies.
Love does not.
===
===
Love takes many forms.
Love has many shapes and colors.
There's fuzzy love and romantic love,
and brotherly love - called agape - and tuff love.
There's deep love and shallow love and self love.
And... Love thy neighbor as one's self.
So, like I said, I am a stand for Love.
In truth, I ultimately know of nothing else...
worth being a stand for!
I know that sounds kinda crazy, but I mean it.
Perhaps that's my dogma, or my delusion : Love.
Love supercedes dogma, ethnicity, aging, technology, death.
All those will take care of themselves if Love is present.
It is when Love is NOT present that trouble begins.
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===
So here's my personal commitment, my story :
Anything other than Love, is something OTHER than Love.
Anything less than Love, is something LESS than Love.
I refuse to be anything OTHER than, or LESS than, Love.
I am weak, sometimes mis-guided, sometime ego-ic.
I too often act from my lower self, not my Higher Self.
I may - and will on occasion -
stumble in my commitment to being Love.
But, I PROMISE YOU, Love IS my commitment.
That commitment does not change.
And you can hold me to it.
In fact, I REQUEST that you hold me to it.
When I stumble - and I will -,
when I am less than Love,
that does NOT make me a hypocrite.
That makes me... human.
I will get up, brush myself off, and walk my talk again.
I will get up, make amends, and walk my talk again.
I am a human, learning... Love.
I am a human being, being... Love.
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If others forgive me for my lack of Love in any instance,
I have an opportunity to heal that lack.
If others forgive me for my lack of Love in any instance,
I have an opportunity to create Love in the stead of lack.
Being present to the human before me... is an act of Love.
Not being present is not so loving.
Dogmas and politics and filters and personal history
and mind parasites... are often barriers to being present.
Dropping those barriers and being present to an other
by feeling Life's inherent Mystery,
is an act of permission-granting, an act of Love.
Letting someone be them-selves is an act of generosity.
By being fully present, as a permission-granter,
you effectively say...
"I love you for everything you are...
and everything you are not."
===
===
I stand for no dogma.
I stand for Love.
I don't know how Love works out in your understanding,
or in someone else's understanding.
I don't know how Love applies to this theoretical situation, or that.
Don't come to me with questions like that.
I don't want rules about how Love works out,
about what Love means here or there,
about how Love can be - or should be - put into practice.
If you try to define everything about Love,
you get an accretion of irrelevant and chaotic dogma,
like the thousands of pages of US tax code.
If you try to define everything about Love,
you get an accretion of irrelevant and chaotic dogma,
layer upon layer of theory and absurd doctrine,
like how many angels fit on the head of a pin,
or like the Catholic Church very recently deciding
whether un-baptized babies go to a hell, or a limbo.
Or the seemingly infinite rules and conflicting gradations
and judgements of Rabbinical Judaism.
If you try to define everything about Love,
you might get the divisive "us-vs-them-isms" of politics :
communism, Marxism, fascism.
Which is SO clearly not Love.
===
So I create no rules for you to consider,
no dogma to absorb, no doctrine to wrestle with,
no political correctness to judge others by, no creed to recite.
Just one word....Love.
As my friend Yosef put it...
"Kindness is my dogma, compassion is my creed.
Love is my religion, Love touches every need."
In any situation, Love will tell you the answer.
Work it out for yourself.
What does it mean to live from Love?
Ask, am I coming from Love?
Am I being Love in this situation?
Could I be MORE Love in every situation?
What does it mean to live... AS Love?
You can use discernment and still be Love.
Love does not mean being taken advantage of.
Being taken advantage of, means being taken advantage of.
Love means Love.
Learn the difference.
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If we all create every moment from Love,
it will all work out in the end.
In fact, if we ALL create every moment from Love,
it will all work out in the beginning, middle, AND end.
All you need is Love.
Love is all you need.
Love can transform this world.
Love is the only thing that CAN transform this world,
and every being in it.
You have an ongoing access to Love,
you have an endless supply of Love.
Everybody welcomes more Love in their life,
and NOBODY ever gets too much Love.
Be generous with your Love.
Love is flexible, fuzzy, comfortable, and fits all sizes.
Love is bound up in forgiveness and healing.
Forgiveness and healing are bound up... in Love.
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I promise you :
Where there is forgiveness, there will be healing.
Where there is healing, there will be Love.
I promise you :
Where there is Love, there will be peace.
Where there is peace... you will find me.
I will meet you there.
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May you leave with stretchmarks on your mind.
May you leave with stretchmarks on your heart.
Namaste'
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(c) 2008 Synvocation by Preston Klik for February 05, 2008